Slide on U.S. 441 will not disrupt traffic

A landslide in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was recently discovered along Newfound Gap Road, but is not blocking the road and is not considered a safety threat.

Contractors will begin shoring up the slide this week, however, to keep it from eventually destabilizing the roadbed above.

The slide is on the downhill slope about 50 feet below the road. It is in North Carolina, about a mile from the stateline before reaching the Newfound Gap parking area.

Crews will reinforce the slope to stabilize the road embankment and to prevent slope failure or erosion along the road shoulder. The restoration work will include retaining wall construction, road reconstruction, stone masonry guardwall construction, guardrail placement, shoulder reconditioning, installation of culverts and inlets, and site restoration.

Traffic lanes will be temporarily shifted onto the road shoulder throughout the duration of the project to maintain two-way traffic. However, single lane closures will be required intermittently. The parking area adjacent to this slide area will be closed, but the small pull off for the Deep Creek trailhead will remain open.

The Naturalist's Corner

My family and I made a quick run up to Waterrock Knob on the Blue Ridge Parkway around dusk last Sunday (July 19) to get a peek at some celestial luminaries. Venus and Jupiter joined the waxing crescent moon on the western horizon. They danced and played hide and seek amidst layered clouds whose purple backs touched the night while their bellies bathed in the last yellow and orange rays of the sun falling over the western horizon. It was a beautiful, tranquil setting.